Hidden Plumbing Leaks Gainesville Florida: North central Florida has a chronic issue with hidden plumbing leaks known as “slab leak” which is failure of copper plumbing line located within the foundation of a home. Often times slab leaks will take years to develop usually 15 -20 years. Slab leaks will start off with a hole in the copper line invisible to the eye and in a matter of weeks or days the hole can grow to be the size of a B B. Slab leaks although small in size can cause severe damage to residential & commercial buildings. Oftentimes slab leaks are undetected for weeks which leads to hidden water damage and mold damage to interior wall cavities and behind Cabinets. Mold will start to grow after 72 hours of water damage occurrence. Mold usually thrives in damp dark places like water damaged wall cavities. Slab leaks generally lead to mold damage we find that 50 % of mold remediation projects are caused by a hidden plumbing leak “slab leak”.
Usually slab leaks are detected by a homeowner receiving a high water bill or a random damp spot in the center of a room in the carpet. Slab leaks can be very difficult to locate most plumbing companies lack the experience and tools to locate a slab leak leaving slab leak location to true leak detection experts. Leak detection for slab leaks is performed by filling the plumbing lines with helium gas and listening for the leak using high tech sonar guided equipment. Once slab leak is detected usually within inches of the failed copper plumbing line licensed plumbing company can begin the repair. In order to repair a slab leak the plumber must break the concrete slab where the leak was detected and located the failed plumbing line “very messy”. Once the failed copper plumbing line is located the plumber will cut the line remove the section of the pipe that has the hole and replace with new pipe. Often times these repairs are covered by homeowners insurance with the exception of the repair to actual pipe so usually 80 % of the repair is covered by insurance company and the other 20 percent is covered by the insured homeowner. Once the slab leak is repaired usually the repair will hold up but the chances of getting another slab leak are always good due to the age of the copper pipes and the amount of lime rock deposits within thew water supply in North Central Florida.
If the slab leak has caused severe damage to the structure such as water damage or mold damage homeowners insurance will be responsible for the cost of repairing the damage. Often times slab leaks will lead to mold damage under wood flooring or carpet. If mold damage has occurred licensed mold damage professional should be contacted. Mold damage can be very expensive and often times insurance companies only cover up to 10,000.00